Unless I stay up all night, of course (which kills the “sleep up” item on the list).

My mind literally spins, panting, “Disaster! This is never going to work! DO something!”

It will be right about the disaster part unless I stop panicking and look at what’s going on.

Because here’s what’s going on - nothing.

Overwhelm accomplishes nothing. It wastes the very thing it makes you feel you don’t have enough of - time and energy

When my mind spins in overwhelm, I can’t settle on the task at hand because I can’t decide what that is.

“I can’t wrap up a project at the day job because…isn’t there something else on the list I need to do right now? But which one? I can’t pack the van because I’m thinking I should book one of those flights instead, but which one?”

The moment I try to do one thing, I start thinking about doing another.

And while I bounce around like this, sure enough - nothing gets done.

The fix is absurdly simple. Start making decisions. One at a time.

"What’s really important?”

“What has to get done to make the important happen?”

“What can I let go?”

Once I make a decision, I move on and don’t second-guess it. Because as I learned from Martha Beck, there are no wrong decisions. Make it, and move on.

If the already-shaggy lawn doesn’t get mown for another week and a half, the world won’t end.